The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has, on Wednesday March 13, 2024, launched a digital system for the licensing and inspection of schools by the National Schools Inspectorate Authority (NaSIA).
Named the School Licensing and Inspection Management System (SLIMS), the digital system has two modules; one for licensing and another for inspection, and the portal is accessible off-line nationwide, to school proprietors and schools to make requests to the NaSIA for licensing and inspection, as well as make payments on the Ghana.Gov platform from the comfort of their homes.
Launching it, Dr. Bawumia said the digital system addresses several challenges in the old system, as it has, he noted, moved the licensing, monitoring and inspection of schools from the laborious analogue system of documentation, to a more friendly, efficient and transparent online system.”
“The Authority identified several challenges associated with the issuance of licenses to private schools. Key among them being Inspectors had to go to the school and complete a number of paper forms. Data entry, analysis and processing of the data took weeks, collection of cash associated with services, an average of four months turnaround time for the issuance of licenses, and challenges in the delivery of licenses to schools,” Dr. Bawumia said.
“The Authority was determined to resolve these challenges, and thus, embarked on a much-needed digitalization initiative in 2019, resulting in the development of the School Licensing and Inspection Management System (SLIMS).”
“The SLIMS has streamlined inspection and licensing processes facilitating customized interventions and support to all schools.”
Dr. Bawumia, who is also the Flagbearer of the governing NPP, said the launch of SLIMS, underlines the NPP Government’s strong commitment to the digitalisation of public services to ensure ease and comfort, as well as engance transparency and accountability.
“Our government understands and appreciates the role digitalization is playing to support us in better policy design, and improved public sector accountability, by strengthening how we collect and analyze data, as well as how effectively we deliver public services and raise revenues,” he said.
“This (SLIMS) has further deepened our resolve to ensure that our attempts to reform education are based on the principles of transparency and accountability, which the SLIMS embodies.”
The Inspector General of Schools, Dr. Haggar Ampadu, commended the government, and Vice President Bawumia in particular, for his commitment to Ghana’s digitalisation.
She said the operationalisation of SLIMS, from last year, is making significant impact in ensuring efficient and transparent delivery of service to stakeholders.
She said her outfit has now significantly reduced the time for processing of licenses from 4 months to three weeks, thanks to the digital system.
With the advent of SLIMS, Proprietors can sit in the comfort of their offices, log in to their school’s portal, request for inspection, apply for a license, and make payment through Ghana.gov.
Upon the approval of the application by the Authority, the SLIMS issues the Proprietor a temporary License and upon inspection, the school is issued a hardcopy license from the SLIMS within a week.
The SLIMS database can be accessed by all school stakeholders through a password-controlled login. Each school will also have a mini dashboard populated with reports and other information needed to improve learning outcomes.
The system is also integrated with the Ministry of Education’s dashboard, ensuring seamless data submission.
